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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25681273">Sometime Around Midnight</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eyrian/pseuds/Eyrian'>Eyrian</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood &amp; Manga</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Royai - Freeform, Songfic, Unresolved Sexual Tension, drunk roy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 05:49:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,107</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25681273</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eyrian/pseuds/Eyrian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"When he opens his eyes, his vision locks on the woman across the room. Her smile, aimed right at him, matches the bittersweet tune filling the room. For the first time in months, he gets to see her in civilian clothes, and the white dress reminds him of something she wore in their youth, when they lived under her father’s roof and danced, flirted, circled around each other without ever touching but always dreaming of it."</p><p>Short songfic for "Sometime Around Midnight" by The Airborne Toxic Event.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>FMA: Mustang+Hawkeye</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sometime Around Midnight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It starts sometime around midnight.</p><p>The haze of secondhand smoke and firsthand alcohol kick in, and Roy begins to feel fully hazy. At the back of the bar, the hairy and thin lead singer of the band sings about forgetting yourself, and though the melody is melancholy, it sounds like the perfect suggestion. So, Roy does. He closes his eyes and enjoys the sensation of inhibitions dropping. Running a gloveless hand through his hair, he leans against the wall behind him and feels the numbness of the whiskey spreading. He’s crossed the line of caring and embraces this rare, forbidden state of letting every guard down.</p><p>When he opens his eyes, his vision locks on the woman across the room. Her smile, aimed right at him, matches the bittersweet tune filling the room. For the first time in months, he gets to see her in civilian clothes, and the white dress reminds him of something she wore in their youth, when they lived under her father’s roof and danced, flirted, circled around each other without ever touching but always dreaming of it.</p><p>Someone next to her grabs her arm to repeat a joke, and she laughs at them. It’s not a pity laugh. All her teeth show, and her eyes glow. Her full-bodied laughs are rare, and he relishes the sight almost as much as this ethereal white dress that’s swishing deliciously around her legs. The connection to their teenage years feels complete. She looks as young as she is, for once. She’s also letting go, setting aside their ever-present burdens.</p><p>Whoever had touched her arm does so again, but their hand lingers this time. Roy finally realizes it’s a man, but he forgets it instantly when she looks back to where he’s standing. She knows he hasn’t looked away for five minutes. She whispers something to the people around her then parts from them, heading towards him.</p><p>With her vodka tonic held to her chest like a cross of protection, she moves easily through the crowd with her eyes never leaving his. There is no one else in the bar. She is moving, not through people, but through the years, the missed opportunities, the wasted nights of empty beds.</p><p>The room is spinning when she’s finally in front of him. She touches his elbow, so maybe he was beginning to move as well as the room.</p><p>“Colonel, how are you? Do you need a cab?”</p><p>His mouth drops open as he sucks in a ragged breath. She’s his whole vision and every sensation. At this proximity, he can smell the perfume on her neck, and he touches her bare arms just to learn what her skin feels like.</p><p>So many hours he’s spent imagining what it would feel like and what it would taste like. He sees then with a painful clarity an image of their bodies bare and entwined around each other like perfect circles. The vision is so overwhelming that he feels himself growing dizzy and his heart race. With a feral need, he grips her waist.</p><p>Her mouth parts in surprise, and she looks around the bar, as though anyone there mattered. No, he believes everyone there cares so little that they might as well be alone. He leans forward.</p><p>She pulls away, takes a step back, and shakes her head. He can see the strain in her eyes, and her pupils are deep and dark. Her breathing has quickened as well, but not with fear. She finishes the second half of her drink in one gulp then presses the glass against his chest. He takes it, trying to wrap her fingers in his, but her hand escapes before he can capture it.</p><p>Still, she’s shaking her head, but she’s staring at his lips and then his shoulders and then finally in his eyes again, and he knows. He knows she’s as tempted as he is right now. He tries to step forward again, but this time, she turns her back to him.</p><p>He’s too dizzy to chase her across the bar. The song is louder now, and the beat matches his heartbeat, encouraging the frenzy building in him.</p><p>When she rejoins her friends, she grabs the arm of the man who’d touched her before. Roy can’t read her lips, but he sees the man nod and grab their coats off the back of the chairs next to them. This stranger offers her his arm.</p><p>For one millisecond, she looks at Roy again, and his blood boils instantly. <i>No.</i>. She looks away and is led out the door.</p><p>Roy lurches forward in an attempt to chase. The song is angry now, and his stomach churns and clenches. <i>No, no.</i> He can feel the bodies around him, dancing and losing themselves just as the singer is telling them to. They press against him and slow him down as he swims through the mass. He shoves them roughly out of his way.</p><p>When he gets to the door, he hears a familiar voice say, “Woah, there, Colonel Mustang! What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”</p><p>Roy is stopped from exiting when Major Armstrong blocks him with his arm. He looks up at the giant, blond man and just shakes his head. “Leave me alone,” he snaps, hoping the slurring in his voice doesn’t undermine his urgency and authority.</p><p>His feet hit the sidewalk hard as he stumbles out, and he spins, looking desperately for that white dress. Where did they go? He steps into the middle of the street to see further down all sidewalks. A few people passing by stop to watch him, but he cannot notice such unnecessary details. He has lost the ability. Which way did she go?</p><p>No, he knows the answer. Her apartment is west down this street two blocks and then north three. She would not have gone to this man’s house. She will be home. He starts running awkwardly in that direction. <i>No, no, no</i>.</p><p>He just has to see her. Whatever sanity remains warns him that she’ll kick him out, but he still has to see her. She’ll remind him of why he’s never been the one to walk her home, and he’ll feel shamed by the rejection, but he still has to see her. He’ll look over her shoulder and see this other man waiting, confused and pitying, but he has to see her. All the unanswered questions they’ve always avoided will be answered, and the answer will kill him more than not hearing it ever did.</p><p>He keeps running.</p><p>He just has to see her. </p><p>He knows she’ll break him in two.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I took a short break from writing, and this was just to get my toes wet again. Also, seriously listen to this song sometime. It's a perfect heartbreak, just like these characters.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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